Something yummy from Central African Republic.

   Last week we studied Central African Republic as our country of the week. It's not an easy country to study because of the unrest and civil wars that discontinued almost all the tourism. So it's almost impossible to find any videos on a country that is too dangerous for tourists to go to. I didn't feel discourage, though, and use that as a topic of conversation with Monkeys. We read short introduction to Central African Republic and examined their map and flag. We then talked about the troubles the country has been in. The good news is that I did find 2 YouTube movies that showed Monkeys something about Central African Republic other than war. The first video is about one of the indigenous tribes in Africa, the BaAka pygmies, and their songs.

The second video is done by one of the volunteers for MercyCorps and it's about seed distribution to families living in one of the poorest of countries. Monkeys and I had a conversation about seed keeping and farming and feeding families, and why volunteers are doing such a great job helping.

It's poetic!

 As part of our homeschool curriculum, I have decided that we will study Poetry. Why do I think that poetry is needed in lessons for 9, 5, and 3 year old? It's because I think that poetry has more to offer to students than mere words. It provides opportunity for examining words as conveyors of not only meaning but also feelings. Poetry gives the kids an opportunity to practice their memory and learn to express themselves in few words. It can also help them in grammar by teaching rhyming, poetic terms like oxymoron or onomatopoeia, or metaphors, composition, and word use. Poetry can help kids paint verbal imagery with words. Poetry is ....... well, poetic.
   Teaching poetry to kids doesn't have to be a chore, even if you are not particularly fond of poetry. At younger age, Nursery Rhymes are a perfect introduction to poetry. Rhymes like Humpty Dumpty, Jack be Nimble, or Hickory, Dickory, Dock, or songs like Baa, Baa Black Sheep, or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star are fun for even the youngest of children to memorize.

You loose sleep over what???? part 1

Girly Monkey helping her little friend in dance class

   People are often very curious about the way we do things and we get many questions from many different people. There are 2 questions that people ask us most often. The first question that we get asked a lot is about homeschooling. Now, I know what you're thinking! You're probably assume that we get asked about the logistics of homeschooling, or where we get our curriculum from, or how we handle math and science, but you're wrong to assume that. The question that we're asked the most is "What about socializing your kids?" For some reason most people assume that homeschooling your kids means having them locked away from all contact with other people. I am not the only homeschooling parent (and yes, us homeschooling parents do talk amongst each other and exchange information) that has come across this. Others have reported everyone from close relatives to strangers in the store being concerned over homeschool kids not having enough "social time". Many non-homeschooling people assume that the main reason for sending kids to school is to be with other kids. Wait a minute ... I thought that the whole idea of sending your kids to school was so that they could get education.

Only 10 weeks left to go ... maybe!

7 months pregnant
with Funky Monkey

   This week marked 10 weeks away from my due date. This means that I have gone through three quarters of this pregnancy and that there is only one quarter left, at the most. Truth be told, I really don't expect this baby to wait until last week of November to arrive. Maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part. This pregnancy has been by far the most difficult one yet. I always tell everyone that being pregnant in my 30's is much harder than it was in my 20's. When I was pregnant with Funky Monkey I was only 24. To tell you the truth I didn't even really notice I was pregnant. I mean my baby bump got bigger, but I didn't feel any different. I read about heartburn, and nausea, and swollen feet in all the baby books but I never experienced any of it. It did help that I didn't have any kids to run after yet so I had lots of time to nap and pamper myself. Funky Monkey arrived on his due date but I would have been fine carrying him a little longer if not for the excitement of meeting him.

7 months pregnant
with Girly Monkey

   With each pregnancy it became more difficult and harder on my body. Girly Monkey's pregnancy was just a little harder than Funky Monkey's pregnancy. Morning sickness lasted a bit longer, and I got breathless a little earlier in the pregnancy. It was harder also because
Girly Monkey decided to stay in a little past her due date. Once I got to Little Monkey, though, I really started feeling it. I had bad heartburn, my feet got swollen all the time, and Little Monkey was bruising the inside of my ribs. I was really ready for him to come out. He must have listened too because he arrived almost 2 weeks early. The funniest thing is that all three Monkeys made their appearance into this world weighing almost the same amount. As a matter of fact they were all within 2 oz of each other. Funky Monkey was 8lbs7oz, Girly Monkey was 8lbs6oz, and Little Monkey was 8lbs5oz. So it might be that they receive an eviction notice from my body once they get to just over 8lbs. Well, if this trend continues, Monkey In-Waiting should be 8lbs5oz. I am putting that out there as my official prediction for his weight. And I am also guessing that he will arrive at

Why even bother with nature study?

Nature is beautiful

   Since it was the first Monday of the school year yesterday, it was also our first science day of the year. Science day can be a lot of fun for the Monkeys because they get to learn about science and nature. Once we are finished all the individual work for the day we get to work on Monday's activities. I always like to start off with reading our science book of the week first. This week Funky Monkey took out Whale Sharks by Heidi Mathea from the library so we made that be our first science book this year. The book itself was not too long so we were able to read the whole book in one sitting. It has numerous large photographs of whale sharks with tons of information that's easy to comprehend (even for the smallest of listeners). The book is written in a living book style so I found that the kids were able to remember a lot of the information long after we finished reading it. Even I found the book very interesting and learned a few bits about this largest fish in the world.

First week and Ballet for Boys and Girls.

   The first week of school is over and the excitement of school has wore off a bit. This morning, Monkeys were very excited to have their day off school. The only one complaining about lack of school-work was Little Monkey. I think that this had something to do with him getting a "smelly" sticker once he finished his work, and no school-work means no sticker today. The stickers were a great incentive not only for Little Monkey, but also for the two older Monkeys. I have bought them when I picked up their Math work-books and they are very cute. As an added bonus when you scratch the sticker they smell like fruits. The kids love getting them after they finished their copywork, or math, or Spanish lesson.

Funky Monkey helping Little Monkey

   So what is my review of the first week back?
I think it went smoother than I expected. I am glad that I spent all the hours planning the whole year, because it seem to have saved plenty of time daily.

Our first day back to Homeschool.

Listening to stories at breakfast time

   Today was our first day back. The days started off early for me because I had to get all the logistic things out of the way. I had to make sure that all the subjects were divided into the right days, the copywork quotes were in the right folders, that I had printed enough weekly schedule sheets, etc. The rain was really coming down outside our windows and the day seemed so gloomy. I was thinking of all the kids who had to walk to school in these flood waters. This was one of the mornings that I was really glad that we could do all our work inside.

My homeschool plan for this year.

   The beauty of homeschooling is that it's very flexible. In the years where a family is busy bringing a new baby, or caring for sick elder, or moving, they can plan for lighter curriculum, or time off. Since Monkey In-Waiting is due this November, I have planned for it. Normally what I would do is have 3-4 days off between semesters to give the Monkeys a little break. Since I am planning to take all of December off I planned for only one day off in between semester. So our first semester will go from September 3 until October 11, with October 14 off (it's Thanksgiving here in Canada) and next semester will start October 15. We normally take about 3 weeks off over the Christmas Holidays, but this year they will be extended due to our Monkey In-Waiting's arrival. Second semester will end on November 25th, so that will allow lots of time for baby to arrive.

   My plan for this school year is this:

So how do we do it? part 1

Girly Monkey and Funky
Monkey at the park

   There is one thing evident when you start researching Homeschooling, and that is that there are as many ways to do it as there are families homeschooling. The different ways range from very little formal instruction, as in unschooling, to households with a replica of classroom in their nook equipped with everything from a black board to a large clock that signals lunch and recess. In my experience I have found that majority of homeschoolers fall somewhere in the middle.We do things the middle way too.

Exercise time

   When I first stared Homeschooling we used the Complete Canadian Curriculum Gr.1. One of the reason I used it was that it was formulated to reflect and follow Canadian Curriculum, including things like Canadian money, History and Geography. I found that when I looked at other systems from countries like US, or Australia, or UK I had to do a lot of supplementing for Canadian content. The only drawback with that workbook was that we were still doing "school-work" at home. In other words, we didn't have full benefit and flexibility of picking the things we wanted our kids to learn. Over the course of that first year I learned that Funky Monkey was less interested in what made the weather, or who firemen were and more interested in Dinosaurs.

So what made us Homeschool?

When there were only 3 of us

   When Funky Monkey was just a little boy I vowed to find the best fitting education for him that I could. He was an only child untill he was 3.5 years old. As much as I loved spending time with him I also realized that he needed some "kid-time." So when I was pregnant with Girly Monkey we made the decision to sign him up for preschool. I spent many days researching the best options. After a while I was convinced that one of these expensive preschools that offered to make your child super smart was the best option. After all they had flashy ads in urban parent magazines and they offered things like Latin and science for your 3-year-old. Having always been a fan of good quality education I was sucked into thinking that they were the best. So a little after his 3rd birthday we went shopping for Funky Monkey's school uniform. That's right, this preschool required all the kids to have gray pants and white top. They didn't require us to purchase the actual school uniform until we were at the school for couple of weeks. I am now glad because the uniform was super expensive. So few weeks later off went Funky Monkey to his first week of school. Because I was a stay-at-home mom I only needed for him to attend school for 3 half days.

Funky Monkey painting eggs

   The first week I noticed that he was extremely tired when he came from school. He was overstimulated and cranky (must have been all that science and Latin lessons!) Then the lovely teacher that he had started with left and new teacher was assigned to his class. I was informed that the teacher didn't have all her credentials yet, but she was in the process of obtaining them. That's right, the school that we paid 275 dollars for 3 half days didn't require their teachers to be certified before they started teaching the class!

Since we're all in Back-To-School mode ...

Funky Monkey's random drawings

...let's talk about Home Schooling. So what is Home School? Homeschooling is alternative method of education. Let me clarify something, by alternative I don't mean weird or odd, I mean it's not the standard form of sending your kids to an educational institution to get education. I truly believe that Home-school is a misnomer in itself. A lot of "home-schooling" is neither "schooling" in traditional meaning of the word nor does it mostly happen at home. For many home-schoolers learning happens not just in their homes, but outside, in a park for example, in classes taken by their kids, at grandma's house, by the seashore, and many other places. I like using the word "learning" as opposed to "schooling" since "schooling" implies that there is an instructor or a teacher that feeds information to the student, making it more passive way of obtaining information where as "learning" implies an active role that the student plays in gathering and absorbing knowledge. Learning is what most home-schoolers do. If I was the one naming this form of education I would gladly call it "Out-of-school-learning." Unfortunately the term is already coined as "home-schooling" so for the purpose of keeping everyone sane I will keep the term (although I still think it's a misnomer).

Girly Monkey and Little Money
taking a class together

   Here, in British Columbia, there are 2 ways that one can choose to have their kids learn out of school; one way is to enroll them in Distance Learning, and another one is the register them in Homeschooling program.  So what is the difference?